Part 2 Proofs the Last Supper Was Not the Passover
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Part 2 Proofs the Last Supper Was Not the Passover Copyright © 2014, T. Alex Tennent. May not be distributed or copied without publisher’s permission. Brief excerpts may be used in proper context in critical articles, reviews, academic papers, and blogs. Proofs the Last Supper Was Not the Passover The majority of this section covers the various proofs that the Last Supper was not the Passover, with additional information that the ritual of Communion was not something the Messiah or the early believers wanted or taught. The “Template Chal- lenge” forces various beliefs to logically lay out certain scriptural events with the Jewish template of the Passover feast. Then the “Three Keys” chapter takes those scriptures that seem to so clearly have Jesus eating the Passover at the Last Supper and shows what they actually mean in the original Greek. This is followed by the “Fifty Reasons” chapter, which attempts to group all the proofs that the Last Supper was not the Passover into a single chapter. “Between the Evenings” explores various Jewish laws and idioms that show the proper time and day to slay the Passover, which are vital in disproving several false theories. Other important truths are also seen in this chapter. And finally we take a close look at whether the scriptures actually teach a ritual of Communion in the chapter “The Ritual—Why Didn’t the Jewish Disciples Teach It?” Copyright © 2014, T. Alex Tennent. May not be distributed or copied without publisher’s permission. Brief excerpts may be used in proper context in critical articles, reviews, academic papers, and blogs. part 2 The Template Challenge o maintain the integrity of scriptures, the following time-specific events must Tall align with the Jewish timeline with respect to Passover and the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread. The Challenge The challenge is to place all 10 events into the template for this Jewish feast: 1. Jesus being in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 2. The Last Supper. 3. The 14th-day Passover sacrifice. 4. The time of Christ’s death. 5. The 15th-day Sabbath that follows the 14th-day Passover sacrifice. 6. The Saturday Sabbath. 7. The seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread. 8. Sunday—the first day of the week (Luke 24:1). 9. The day Jesus was condemned and crucified, such that it fulfills Luke (24:1, 20, 21), which says Sunday was “the third day since these things happened” (with “these things” being the condemnation and Crucifixion). 10. The day his disciples questioned Jesus about where they should prepare for the Passover (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:9). In the following pages we will consider various doctrinal beliefs to see which one meets the test. The final templates in this chapter will show how these events had to occur, but first we will consider the template of the Passover and the seven-day Feast/ Festival of Unleavened Bread, as commanded by God to Moses: Copyright © 2014, T. Alex Tennent. May not be distributed or copied without publisher’s permission. Brief excerpts may be used in proper context in critical articles, reviews, academic papers, and blogs. 366 | The Messianic Feast Each Jewish day The legal time to slay the Passover ended at sunset, is between noon and sunset about 6:00 PM; the new day The first day of the festival The seventh day of the festival would then is a Holy Convocation is a Holy Convocation begin with (15th-day high Sabbath) (Sabbath) the night portion first THE PASSOVER t t y y y y y y y y y Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Night Night Night Night Night Night Night Nigh Nigh SABBATH 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NISAN CALENDAR DATE DAYS OF SEVEN-DAY FEAST/FESTIVAL OF UNLEAVENED BREAD Figure 1. Template challenge: the template of the Passover and the seven-day Feast/Festival of Unleavened Bread,Template as commanded Challenge: by God. The Template of the Passover and the Seven-Day Feast/Festival of Unleavened Bread, as Commanded by God JPS Numbers 28:16–18, 25 And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the LORD’S passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast; seven days shall unleav- ened bread be eaten. In the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work; And on the seventh day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. Unfortunately, three of the most popular theological doctrines—namely, the Early Roman Catholic Option, the Double Passover Option, and the Saturday Resurrec- tion Option—all violate certain scriptures when overlaid on the template. As we will see, only one possible option exists to place all these events within the template of this feast, such that no scripture is broken. But first we will consider these three most popular options. Copyright © 2014, T. Alex Tennent. May not be distributed or copied without publisher’s permission. Brief excerpts may be used in proper context in critical articles, reviews, academic papers, and blogs. The Template Challenge | 367 They believed “Good Friday” was the day “these things happened,” i.e., delivered up, sentenced to death, and crucified In this option, Christ eats the Passover Christ then dies at about 3:00 PM at the Last Supper on “Good Friday,” being the 15th-day high Sabbath First Second (In this option, Sunday is not “the third day day day since” these things happened) since since t t y y y y y y y y y Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Night Night Night Night Night Night Night Nigh Nigh THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NISAN CALENDAR DATE DAYS OF SEVEN-DAY FEAST/FESTIVAL OF UNLEAVENED BREAD Figure 2. The early Roman Catholic option. The Early Roman Catholic Option The Early Roman Catholic Option The first of these popular options is based on Christ being crucified on “Good Fri- day” after eating the Passover at the Last Supper. By looking closely at the timing of events, it is easy to see that this position cannot be true. This early Roman Catholic option does not fit the scriptures for several reasons: 1. It fails to fit the clear time-specific events in Luke 24, wherein the disciples speak on Sunday—the first day of the week (verse 1)—about Jesus having been delivered up and crucified (verses 19–20). The disciples say that it is now the third day since these things happened Copyright © 2014, T. Alex Tennent. May not be distributed or copied without publisher’s permission. Brief excerpts may be used in proper context in critical articles, reviews, academic papers, and blogs. 368 | The Messianic Feast (verse 21). Yet if Christ had been crucified on Good Friday, Sunday would only be the second day since these things happened. 2. Jesus would have been in the tomb only two (not three) nights. From the first-century Jewish perspective, this would be the night portion of Saturday and the night portion of Sunday (shown in the template diagram above). However, Jesus said he would be in the tomb three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). 3. Had Jesus eaten the 14th-day Passover at the Last Supper, Jewish Sabbath laws would have been completely violated by having the Crucifixion of Jesus on the 15th-day Sabbath. 240 4. Jesus would have been buried on the 15th-day Sabbath, also completely illegal under Jewish law. 5. It goes against the almost unanimous early church history that the Crucifixion was on the 14th day. 241 6. Having Jesus eat the 14th-day Passover at the Last Supper and believing he was crucified on Good Friday (the 15th day) would contradict God’s foreknowledge whereby He instructed Moses to sacrifice the Passover on the 14th day. This option thus implies that Christ was our “one-day- late” Passover. 240 See the chapter “50 Reasons the Last Supper Was Not the Passover” for many more proofs that Christ was not crucified on the 15th-day Sabbath. 241 As seen in the chapter “Setting the Table 1: The Jewish Disconnect and the Fourteenthers.” Copyright © 2014, T. Alex Tennent. May not be distributed or copied without publisher’s permission. Brief excerpts may be used in proper context in critical articles, reviews, academic papers, and blogs. The Template Challenge | 369 This option has Christ sacrificing the Passover illegally either at the end of the 13th day, or the beginning of Leaven the 14th day, burned then eating it before the nation has burned the Christ’s death at the proper legal time leaven of the Passover’s slaying t t y y y y y y y y y Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Night Night Night Night Night Night Night Nigh Nigh THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NISAN CALENDAR DATE DAYS OF SEVEN-DAY FEAST/FESTIVAL OF UNLEAVENED BREAD Figure 3. The double Passover option. The Double Passover Option The Double Passover Option Clarke’s Commentary on Matthew 26:20242 espouses a double Passover option. This second of the widely held doctrinal options has Jesus somehow both eating a Pass- over at the Last Supper at the start of the 14th day (i.e., just into the nighttime por- tion), and then being crucified as the Passover in the daytime portion of this 14th day.